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Obama rejects Zika funding approved during Democrats' sit-in

27th June 2016

In this image from video provided by House Television, House Speaker Paul Ryan stands at the podium as he brings the House into session Wednesday night, June 22, 2016, in Washington. (House Television via AP)

Four months after President Barack Obama requested $1.9 billion to respond to the Zika virus, the U.S House of Representatives approved $1.1 billion last week. Just days later, the Senate rejected legislation on June 28 that would have provided the same amount. That's not the only obstacle blocking funding.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz called the House measure "woefully inadequate." So even though the number of Zika cases in the U.S. continues to rise as summer weather–and peak mosquito season–spreads across the United States, the president intends to veto the legislation, Schultz said.

House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, called the bill "a significant step forward in the fight against Zika... that assures the administration will continue to have the needed resources to protect the public."

The Zika shortfall is just one of the problems Democrats have with the legislation. It also cuts money for Obama's signature health law, the Affordable Care Act, and for the Ebola response. It would also restrict women's access to contraception and eliminate some provisions of the Clean Air Act, Schultz said.

The timing of the House vote was unusual. House Republican Speaker Paul Ryan brought the legislation to a vote at 3 a.m. last Thursday morning, during the remarkable sit-in by Democrats demanding a vote on gun control legislation. Democrats waved signs bearing the names and photos of people who died as a result of gun violence. The protest had been going strong for more than 15 hours, with some Democrats sitting on the floor, and some prepared to camp out with pillows and blankets.

They also used their cell phones–prohibited on the floor by House rules–to send photos and live video via social media to the outside world when Republican majority ended official business and turned off the House TV cameras and microphones C-Span uses to broadcast congressional proceedings. Instead, C-Span picked up the amateur video feed of Democrats explaining why they had taken over the chamber (Michigan Democrat Debbie Dingell revealed very personal reasons).

After Republicans returned to the House floor and approved the legislation over Democrat quite loud objections, Speaker Ryan adjourned the meeting and sent members home for the July 4th holiday. The sit-in ended too, but its leader, civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, promised "when we come back here on July the 5th, we're going to continue to push, to pull, to stand up, and if necessary, to sit down."